Kelly Bullano can hope Friday’s Ken Peek Invitational stands as a turning point in the season and possibly her career.
Platte County senior Rylee Carr runs a leg of the 4×100-meter relay during the Ken Peek Invitational on Friday at Liberty North High School in Liberty.
In an encouraging performance, Platte County’s standout junior finished seventh in the javelin with a throw of 35.57 meters at Liberty North High School. This marked her second-best distance of the season for the school-record holder in the event who seeks a return to form that made her a Class 5 state medalist as a freshman.
Bullano finished fifth in the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships two seasons ago with a PR of 41.55. She has not gone over 40 meters since and just missed a second straight berth last season after finishing fifth at sectionals.
Platte County finished 16th in the final standings of a deep field of 23 schools. The Pirates’ best finishes were third-place showings for junior Adi Kern (pole vault) and senior Adi Benninghoff (100 hurdles).
Benninghoff and Bullano are Platte County’s only returning individual state qualifiers, while senior Addie Ayers went twice in the 4×800 as a freshman and sophomore. All three have at least one state medal.
Kern cleared 2.9 meters after going over a career-best 3.05 meters in each of the previous two meets, while Benninghoff came back from a fall in her most recent race to finish in 15.63. She clipped the second hurdle in the previous weekend’s Kansas City Relays and looks to make a quick recovery in search of a long-elusive school record in the event.
Benninghoff placed eighth at state as a junior in the 100 hurdles in a PR of 14.95. A two-time qualifier, her best mark this season was 15.20 in an early April trip to the annual Clyde Littlefield Relays at the University of Texas in Austin.
Officially, Jan Herndon still owns Platte County’s school record, a hand-held time of 14.93 from 1993.
Platte County sophomore Millie Parker came up with a breakthrough performance in the shot put with a new PR of 10.67 meters, placing her seventh. She previously posted a career-best of 9.9 meters at the same facility during the season-opening Liberty North Time Trials.
With a season-best that tied a PR, Platte County senior Rylee Carr placed eighth in the long jump at 5.02 meters. She last went over 5 meters as a freshman in the Andy Keefer 9th Grade Invitational.
Platte County junior Maggie Wagner posted a career-best time in the 300 hurdles in a second straight race, placing ninth Friday in 48.17. She chopped more than a second off of her PR from the Kansas City Relays when she went 49.49.
Three of Wagner’s four career sub-50 efforts have now come this season.
In addition to Bullano’s seventh-place finish, Platte County senior Malin Cole gave the Pirates a second top-10 showing in the javelin. She placed 10th with a career-best throw of 33.98 meters.
